Ingersoll-rand Union To Review Proposal To Renegotiate Contract

Unionized employees at Ingersoll-Rand (I-R) Co.'s Phillipsburg plant today will hear details of a proposed renegotiated contract that a company spokesman says is "crucial to the future" of the plant.

I-R spokesman Bruce Nagy said last night that members of Local 5503 of the United Steelworkers of America will learn about the company's final offer in several membership meetings today and will vote on the proposed contract Monday. The plant employs about 1,600 people.

Thomas Torcivia, president of Local 5503, could not be reached for comment last night.

Although Nagy would not discuss provisions of the proposed contract out of fairness to the employees, he said details published yesterday in an area newspaper were accurate.

The report said the contractwould establish a base rate that would remain unchanged over the four-year life of the contract except for annual $500 lump- sum payments; would require pay cuts for employees earning more than $14 a hour and give them annual lump-sum payments to offset the pay cuts; would eliminate certain incentives; would offer a health maintenance organization alternative to traditional health insurance coverage; would change some work rules and contract language and would allow review of the dental health plan.

Negotiations to replace the current 3 1/2 -year contract - which is scheduled to expire in April 1987 - were voluntary, according to the company. Nagy said he understood that the negotiations were conducted "in a very professional manner."

Richard Wendeborn, executive vice president of I-R's Engineered Equipment Segment, which includes the Phillipsburg plant, told The Morning Call earlier this month that because of the depressed energy market served by the plant, the company wants to consolidate the local pump and turbo machinery operations. He said the company could achieve some economy of scale if it could get flexible agreements from the employees and some unidentified givebacks.

He said one alternative would be to close one of the two main operations.

"In Phillipsburg there's going to be a need to have some cutbacks because the cost of an hour's work in Phillipsburg is very high and it's difficult to be competitive on that basis," he said.

Wendeborn indicated that contract concessions by USW employees at the company's Allentown pump plant enabled the company to make capital investments there. "We're going to spend significantly in capital investment there," he said.

Company officials have given conflicting statements on capital spending at Phillipsburg. Wendebornsaid this month that the company plans to spend aggressively on research and development in all groups of his segment, including the turbo group at Phillipsburg.

The segment had operating losses in the first three quarters of 1985 before income rebounded. Sales were up in 1984, but operating income continued a five-year drop.

Sales in 1985 were just ahead of the previous year.

Engineered equipment was once the company's biggest segment and Phillipsburg once employed up to 3,500 employees. When the company suffered a loss during the recession of 1982, it made massive layoffs and closed its iron foundry. The Rock Drill Division was moved south in 1983.